What can the world expect of Xi Jinping? asks Asia Sentinel’s Willy Lam

So little is known of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping that even seasoned Sinologists are at pains to pin down the fifth-generation cadre who will become General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party at the 18th Party Congress in late 2012 – and State President soon afterwards. 

The 57-year-old Xi’s status as crown prince was confirmed on Monday, when a party Central Committee plenary session made him a Vice-Chairman of the policy-setting Central Military Commission.

Particularly in a year that is remarkable for the no-holds-barred projection of Chinese hard power, many commentaries about Xi have focused on his close ties to the People’s Liberation Army. Xi’s glamorous wife, veteran singer Peng Liyuan, heads the PLA Song and Dance Troupe. She is also a bona fide major general. 

Friends in High Places 

Much more important is that as a “princeling,” (a reference to the sons and daughters of party elders), Xi has close ties with the several dozens of the offspring of retired senior cadres and generals who have risen to rank of senior colonel or above. 

Shortly after graduation from Tsinghua University in 1979, Xi worked for three years as secretary to former defense minister Geng Biao. General Geng happened to be a good friend of Xi’s father, the late vice-premier Xi Zhongxun. 

It is thus possible that with Xi at the central military commission, PLA generals’ say in foreign policy and related areas – which is already considered excessively high by most Western governments – may be further enhanced. Very little, however, is known about Xi’s personal views on diplomatic and security affairs. 

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